Log in

Editor's Picks

q._grahamii_beatrice.jpg
Who was Quercus grahamii named in honor of?
Roderick Cameron | Dec 17, 2024
Quercus rubra in autumn
The Tree of the Year Association in Germany selected a non-...
Website Editor | Dec 16, 2024
Image from Enarrationes
A 16th century commentary on the medicinal property of oaks...
Website Editor | Dec 16, 2024

Plant Focus

Quercus magnosquamata acorn
A  little-known species from the northern Zagros forests of Iran

Species Spotlight: Quercus magnosquamata Djav.-Khoie

Parisa Panahi1 and Mehdi Pourhashemi2

1 National Botanical Garden of Iran, Botany Research Division, Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Tehran, Iran
2 Forest Research Division, Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Tehran, Iran

Taxonomy

All of the oak species of Iran belong to sections Quercus and Cerris of subgenus Quercus (Menitsky 1971). The most comprehensive study of Quercus in Iran was carried out by Djavanchir-Khoiea (1967) using leaf and acorn morphological characters. He identified 25 new taxa of Iranian oaks, one of which was Q. magnosquamata. Unfortunately, Djavanchir-Khoie described the taxa in his PhD thesis and so they were not validly published according to Art. 30.9.of the International Code of Nomenclature. Panahi (2011) presented a new classification for Iranian oaks after re-studying the new introduced taxa using the micromorphological characteristics of leaves and pollen grains. She confirmed four of these species, including Q. magnosquamata, and validated them (Panahi & Jamzad 2018).

The taxonomy within the Q. libani complex has been dealt with by many authors (Parsa 1949, Bobek 1951, Djavanchir-Khoie 1967, Menitsky 1971, Sabeti 1976). Panahi et al. (2012) recognized 5 taxa (Q. apiculata, Q. carduchorum, Q. libani, Q. magnosquamata, and Q. ophiosquamata) in the Q. libani complex. The populations that belong to the Q. libani complex are restricted to the northern Zagros forests in western Iran.

The most obvious features of Q. mangosquamata that distinguish it from other species of the Q. libani complex are:

  • Both sides of leaf surfaces (abaxial and adaxial) are covered with trichomes.
  • The number of stellate trichome rays in this species is 4–11 rays, which is higher than in the Q. libani complex (4–8 rays).
  • The guard cells of stomata in Q. magnosquamata are on the same level with the surrounding epidermal cells and the rims are entirely covered by epicuticular waxes of smooth layer type. But in Q. libani, which is close to Q. magnosquamata, stomata are raised above the epidermal surface.

Distribution area

This species is endemic to Iran and can be found only in the northern Zagros forests (Fig. 1). These forests cover an area of more than 250,000 ha, and are distributed in Piranshahr Coujnty and Sardasht County (Fig. 1) in West Azerbaijan province, and Baneh County and Marivan County (Fig. 2) in Kurdistan province.

Figure 1. Oak forests in Sardasht, West Azerbaijan province (Northern Zagros)
Figure 1. Oak forests in Sardasht, West Azerbaijan province (northern Zagros)
Figure 2. Oak forests in Baneh, Kurdistan province (Northern Zagros)
Figure 2. Oak forests in Baneh, Kurdistan province (northern Zagros)

Silvicultural characteristics

A deciduous medium size tree up to 15 m high (Fig. 3), but in most areas its height is less than 10 meters. This species forms pure stands in the forests around Marivan in some areas, but in most cases it is observed as individuals together with Q. libani (Fig. 4). Pure stands of this species were observed in the Chenareh and Bayveh forests of Marivan and around the Baneh-Marivan road, and scattered individuals were observed in the Baneh County (Balkeh, Kandeh Surah, Alut, Armardeh, Nirvan, Nizeh Rood), Mirabad County (Alvatan), and Piranshahr County (Perdanan).

Figure 3. Mature Q. magnosquamata in Mirabad, West Azerbaijan province
Figure 3. Mature Quercus magnosquamata in Mirabad, West Azerbaijan province
Figure 4. Quercus magnosquamata stands in Baneh, Kurdistan province
Figure 4. Quercus magnosquamata stands in Baneh, Kurdistan province

Botanical description

  • The bark is dark gray and furrowed in older trees (Fig. 5)
    Figure 5. Furrowed trunk bark of Q. magnosquamata
    Figure 5. Furrowed bark of Quercus magnosquamata
  • Twigs brown with numerous light brown lenticels and scattered hairs that gradually become hairless in the second year
  • Buds ovate with sharp tips and scattered hairs, lower bud scales heavily hairy
  • Leaves relatively broad lanceolate and irregularly narrowed towards the tip, rounded at the base or very rarely heart-shaped, with 10 to 14 pairs of teeth on the margin, both leaf surfaces slightly hairy, upper surface of the leaf yellowish green and lower surface light green, blade 6 to 9 cm long and 2 to 3.5 cm wide, petiole up to 2 cm long (Fig. 6)
    Figure 5. Furrowed trunk bark of Q. magnosquamata
    Figure 6. Leaves of Quercus magnosquamata
  • Cylindrical and elongated seeds, with an average length of 3.9 and an average diameter of 2.9 cm (Figs. 7 and 8)
    Figure 7. Acorns of Q. magnosquamata
    Figure 7. Quercus magnosquamata acorn
  • Cupule large, hemispherical, dark brown, with an average length of 2.9 cm and an average diameter of 4.2 cm, elongated, hump-shaped middle scales that are curved outward at the end, the scales on the top of the cupule are thick and elongated, raised and almost wavy, which easily distinguish this species from others in this complex. The number of cupule spirals is 18. Quercus magnosquamata has the biggest acorn among the oaks of Iran (Fig. 8). Djavanchir-Khoie (1967) named this species magnosquamata because of its long scales on the top of the cupule and big acorns (from Latin magnus = "great" + squama = "scale")
Figure 8. Mature acorn (Seed and Cupule) of Q. magnosquamata
Figure 8. Mature acorn of Quercus magnosquamata
Figure 9. Herbarium specimen of Q. magnosquamata
Figure 9. Holotype of Quercus magnosquamata, collected by Djavanchir-Khoie and deposited at the Université de Montpellier Herbarium

IUCN Red List status

Given the severe degradation of Zagros oak forests, it is essential to evaluate their conservation status. Based on the IUCN guidelines, three criteria were used to evaluate the conservation status of this species: extent of occurrence, area of occupancy, and number of mature individuals. The conservation status of Q. magnosquamata was categorized as Endangered, pending publication to the IUCN Red List in early 2025.

Major threats

Unfortunately, despite the good acorn production of this species (Fig. 10), sexual regeneration does not occur in forest. Most trees exhibit asexual reproduction by different forms of sprouts (Fig. 11).

Figure 10. Acorn production of Q. magnosquamata in Baneh, Kurdistan province
Figure 10. Acorn production of Quercus magnosquamata in Baneh, Kurdistan province
Figure 11. Sprout-clumps of Q. magnosquamata
Figure 11. Sprout-clumps of Quercus magnosquamata (on the ground to the left and right of the tree in the foreground)

Currently, the most important threats to this species are:

  • Cutting of tree branches (pollarding) for livestock feed
  • Cutting of tree branches for hedges
  • Cutting of trees for fuel wood
  • Overgrazing of livestock and destruction of all saplings on the forest floor
  • Harvesting of seeds for traditional uses, especially animal feed
  • Rainfed agriculture beneath the trees

a Edtior's note: The last names of Karim Djanvanchir-Khoie often appear in publications without a hyphen (Panahi et al. 20112, Panahi and Jamzad 2018). It is customary in Iran to have two last names: one name specific to a particular family, and a broader name that may have originated from a tribal or village name, and the latter is rarely used in everyday life. Djavanchir-Khoie appears as "K. Djavanchir" in a 1971 article and on his specimen labels. He was born in the city of Khoy, indicating that "Khoie" would be the "tribal or village name". Normally the two last names would not be hyphenated. However, on the cover of his thesis his name is hyphenated, so that is the format adopted for the standard form when his name appears as the authority for a published name (Djav.-Khoie). 

Cover the Les Chenes de l'Iran
Cover of Djavanchir-Khoie's PhD thesis; image courtesy Sterling Morton Library

Works cited

Bobek, H. 1951. Die natürlichen Wälder und Gehölzfluren Irans. Bonner Geogr. Abh. 8, Bonn. [link]

Djavanchir-Khoie, K. 1967. Les chênes de l`Iran. PhD thesis. University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France.

Menitsky, G.L. 1971. Fagaceae. In: Rechinger, K.H., editor, Flora Iranica (Vol. 77: 1–20). Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt.

Panahi, P. 2011. Study of the diversity of Iranian oak species using pollen grain morphology and determining their conservation status. PhD thesis, University of Mazandaran, Sari, Iran (in Persian).

Panahi, P., and Jamzad, Z. 2018. Validation of the Quercus (Fagaceae) taxa described by Djavanchir Khoie. Turkish Journal of Botany 42(5): 662- 671. [link]

Panahi, P., Jamzad, Z., Pourmajidian, M.R., Fallah, A., and Pourhashemi, M. 2012. Taxonomic implications of micro-morphological features for taxon delimitation within the Quercus libani complex (Fagaceae) in Iran. Phytologia Balcanica 18(3): 263-276. [link]

Parsa, A. 1949. Flore de l`Iran: Fagaceae. Imprinerie Mazaheri, Tehran, 4: 1319-1332.

Sabeti, H. 1976. Forests, Trees and Shrubs of Iran. Ministry of Agricultural and Natural Resources Press, Tehran, Iran (in Persian).